If You Want to Live to Be 110, the World's Oldest People Have Some Advice

Whenever an elderly person turns 100, a local reporter is required by federal law to stop by and ask them how they managed to do it. If someone actually makes it to 110, the national and international press come knocking, asking the same stupid question.

Although random chance is probably the most accurate answer, the supercentenarians usually try to give the rest of us false hope that we too might live to be their age. It’s probably useless advice, but it’s still well documented. So the fine people at The Independent compiled suggestions from the world’s oldest people into one easy-to-read article.

From olive oil, to Jesus, to minding your own business, our eldest elders have no shortage of ideas about why they survived for so long. My favorite answer came from Elizabeth Bolden who lived to be 118. When asked how she managed to cheat death, she replied “I don’t know.”

Clearly, the secret to her success was honesty.

Courtesy of Flickr user Ethan Prater.

The Independent also gave its own advice on living a long life: Be a woman.

The ten oldest people ever to have lived were all female, and the list of the 100 verified oldest people contains only a handful of men.

Location-wise, the United States is the place to be for being super old, with a staggering 51 of the Top 100 hailing from the US, while Japan also sees its fair share of supercentenarians.